Botanical park preserves Bali's ceremonial plants
Botanical park preserves Bali's ceremonial plants
I Wayan Juniartha, The Jakarta Post, Bedugul, Bali
A narrow concrete pathway took us deeper into the
woods where lofty trees embraced one another, forming
a green archway that filtered the glare of the
afternoon sun.
The soft moss that blanketed most of the tree trunks made the
woods look like a thick line of velvety pillars.
At a quick glance, this patch of woods was no different
to the larger forest that surrounded it. But further
inspection revealed that it housed special plants.
Next to the pathway were two young frangipani (Michelia
champaca) trees while in the corner, amid a heap of dry
leaves, were a pandanus tree, a pucuk shrub
(Hibiscus rosa-sinensis) and a tall betel palm, all of
which are commonly used in Balinese Hindu
offerings and rituals.
Nestling inside the spacious, 157.5-hectare Eka Karya
Botanical Park in Bedugul, some 60 kilometers north of
Denpasar, the woods are the pride of the park.
"The woods house a collection of Balinese Hindu
ceremonial plants that we have been meticulously
collecting and nurturing for years. Needless to say,
it is the only one of its kind in the country,"
spokesperson Wayan Mudarsa said.
He recalled that the idea of building a special
collection of ceremonial plants was first conceived in
1997 by then head of the botanical park Ida Bagus
Komang Arsana.
"The reason was quite simple. Other parks already had their
signature collections so Pak Arsana thought that Eka Karya should
also try to establish its own," he said.
For instance, Bogor Botanical Park prizes its cactus
collection while the park at Cibodas boasts a
rhododendron and eucalyptus collection, and Purwodadi
a banana collection.
In 1998, a two-hectare plot of land next to the
ancient Batu Meringgit temple was set aside for the
special collection while the park staff searched the island for
rare, ceremonial plants.
"We consulted books and interviewed numerous high
priests and tukang banten (experts on making offerings) to
identify the ceremonial plants and their habitat,"
Mudarsa recalled.
Fortunately, traditional communities on the island
enthusiastically supported the initiative by donating
plants to the park.
"However, for certain rare plants we still had to
search far-flung corners of the island," he said.
For instance, to find majegau (Dysoxylum parasiticum),
a plant from the kayu dewa (tree of the Gods) category, according
to the ancient treatise, Taru
Premana (The Power of The Trees), park staff
spent many days exploring the rough terrain of the
woods around the traditional Bali Aga village of
Tenganan in eastern Bali.
Its faint fragrance makes majegau an ideal material for an
effigy or shrine.
"Majegau is undoubtedly the collection's most prized
and rarest acquisition," he said.
Now, thanks to the park's expert gardeners, there are
hundreds of majegau trees adorning its lush landscape.
The park has also started a program of donating
majegau trees to the neighboring traditional
village, Desa Pekraman.
Currently, this special collection houses at least 130
species of ceremonial plants. The collection now totals 580
plants. They are divided into five major groups in accordance
with Balinese Hindu ceremonies which have five different forms of
Yadnya (offerings or sacrifices).
Yadnya are grouped into Dewa, Rsi, Pitra, Manusa and Bhuta --
respectively, the offerings made to the gods, sages, ancestors,
man and the forces of nature.
Founded in 1959, Eka Karya Botanical Park currently
houses a total of 14,686 plants of 2,090 different
species. In addition to its ceremonial plant
collection, the park also boasts a massive orchid
collection of 2,991 plants of 204 species.